11

Spring Roast Lamb

4 red chillies2 tsp cumin seeds2 tsp coriander seeds4 tsp poppy seeds (optional)4 black cardamoms8 green cardamoms4 bay leaves2 sticks cinnamon3 large onions250g yoghurt10 garlic cloves2 inches ginger2 tbsp neutral oil2.25-2.5kg Leg of LambSalt to taste

� In a small frying pan, warm the eight fi rst ingredients on a medium heat for 30 seconds until their roast-ed aroma starts wafting into the kitchen. You can shake the pan gen-tly to make sure they roast evenly.� Peel the ginger, garlic and two onions, chopping them roughly. Next grind them with the roasted spices and the yoghurt in a blender/food processor adding salt to your taste. You may want to add a table-spoon or two of warm water to get a smooth marinade.� Now place your lamb in a large roasting tin and poke it with a sharp knife at regular intervals. Then pour the marinade on top making sure the lamb is doused with it all over. Seal well with foil.� Leave this to marinade for at least four hours, preferably overnight. When you’re ready to cook, preheat the oven to 160C (140 for fan assist-ed ovens). When it’s hot, place the foil covered baking tin in the middle of the oven and cook for 3.5 hours.� When the time is up, take the foil

off and keep folded safely, spoon the curry at the bottom of the pan over the lamb, then increase the heat to 200C for another twenty minutes to brown the lamb.� While this is happening, bring the oil to heat on high and slice your re-maining onion fi nely. Fry the onion with a pinch of salt for 15 minutes, until golden crisp. Then drain and reserve on some kitchen towel.� Finally, take the lamb out of the oven, place on a serving plate/bowl and leave to sit covered. Loosen the curry from the baking pan with a wooden spoon, adding some hot wa-ter from a kettle to extract the full fl avour from any caramelised bits. Pour into a gravy jug.� Serve the lamb, with the crisp on-ions sprinkled on top, and a quick pour of some of the curry.

Steak Salad with Blue Cheese and Pecans

2 rib-eye beef steaks (150g each)1 tbsp olive oil70g mixed green salad leaves,

washed100g blue cheese80g pecans, roughly chopped1 tbsp honeyFor the dressing3 tbsp extra-virgin olive oiljuice and zest of ½ lemon1 tsp Dijon mustardsea salt and freshly ground black pepper

� Take the steaks out of the fridge at least 30 minutes before you cook

them. They should be at room tem-perature before going in the pan.� Place a frying pan or griddle pan over a high heat and leave for at least one minute. Brush both sides of the steaks with olive oil and season with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Place them on the hot pan and cook for two minutes on each side then three minutes off the heat. This will cook them medium rare.� Make the dressing by whisking the extra virgin olive oil, lemon and Dijon mustard together until it be-comes an emulsion. Place the salad leaves in a bowl and pour the dress-ing over and toss well. Divide the dressed salad leaves between two plates.� Placing a frying pan over a me-dium heat, pour in the pecans and drizzle the honey on top. Toss and cook for two minutes.� Slice the steaks on the diagonal, against the grain, no thicker than one-half inch. Arrange the sliced steaks on top of the salad.� Crumble the blue cheese and toasted honeyed pecans on top.

Pork pie, Sunday roast, Yorkshire pud, bangers and mash, baked beans on toast... there’s no end to the foods that could be considered England’s national dish. There is also a case for chicken tikka masala, which former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook asserted was a dish testament to the nation’s multiculturalism. The only way to clear up the matter once and for all was to ask a Very Diplomatic National Representative. So we put in a call to the British High Commission, and reached Deputy High Commissioner Ian Whitting... “For me, the national dish of England has to be fi sh and chips, eaten out of newspaper wrapping. The UK as a whole is an island nation and therefore

has a strong attachment to the sea,” Whitting suggested, employing an ingenious line of logic! “Not only is fi sh and chips very tasty, but you could say it has advantages in being full of calories to help keep out the cold of a British winter,” he added, while mentioning that he’s also enjoyed “ex-cellent fi sh and chips on the island [of Cyprus]. What better way to celebrate St George’s Day locally!” As offi cial endorsements go, this is right on the money. Over 200 million portions of fi sh ’n’ chips are sold each year in the country’s several thousand chippies (which outsell Indian take-aways by four to one). And, so beloved is the dish among the general public that it once beat the Queen, Princess

Diana and the Beatles in a survey of national icons. Interestingly, fi sh ’n’ chips holds the distinction of both helping to win and of causing wars. Winston Churchill’s “good companions” were so important to Britain as a whole that during WWII the dish was one of the few foods that was never rationed. Apparently, the powers that be believed a good old portion of fi sh ’n’ chips would keep up morale during times of distress: Fred-erick Lord Woolton, the wartime food minister, allowed mobile frying vans to cater for evacuees, while the Territorial Army prepared for battle on the home front with fi sh ’n’ chips served from special catering tents at their training camps!

On the other hand, the three so-called Cod Wars, which took place between 1958 and 1976, saw Britain and Iceland at loggerheads over fi shing rights, with trawlers rammed, nets cut and violent threats characterising the confl ict! Cod, of course, is the nation’s favourite piscine pick, accounting for six out of 10 portions sold. But there are other fi sh in the sea: haddock, hake, halibut, plaice, sole and pollock are fairly common alternatives. And while every culinary expert has their own preferred potato, it’s generally accepted that the fl oury kind make the fl uffi est, tastiest chips. And there you have it: a few fi shy (and chippy) facts on England’s offi cial dish, just in time for St George’s Day!

April 22, 2018 • SUNDAY MAIL

EnglandWhat’seatenwhereCOMPILED BY ALIX NORMAN

Meat feasts

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